As an office worker with face blindness who has worked from home since the start of the pandemic, I’ve come to love collaborative tools like MS Teams or Zoom because when a meeting participant speaks up, their name appears or lights up on my screen, which makes it easier to track who said/asked what, who owns which action items, etc. A lot of us would struggle with returning to an office environment-especially one with a “hotel setup” (no assigned desks with name plates, etc.), which is the direction a lot of companies are heading. I’ve gotten so used to confidently navigating meetings while working remotely that I barely recall how much anxiety in-person meetings used to cause. Thank goodness for people with very unique/distinct voices.
Though the causes may differ, the impacts of poor facial recognition are also felt by many with visual disabilities. It’s often cited by those in the Nystagmus communities. It’s definitely impacted social and professional aspects of my life.
When my brother was a teenager, he saw a stranger at our small town cafe. About 25 years later, he saw the same man in a bar in Los Angeles. At first the guy didn't believe my brother, but he was also able to describe his car and the guy remembered he used to drive through our town on his job.
@@V.E.R.O. Unfortunately, my brother died five years ago, and I doubt he remembered every single day in detail, but he sure remembered more than anyone else I've ever known. Whenever a song played on the radio, he could remember exactly where he was the first time he heard it. He could remember the names and details of every person in our town and was always puzzled that I couldn't do that. I miss that boy. Thanks for your input.
This segment was very interesting to me. I knew that there were some people who, after a traumatic experience or accident, develop this issue, but I didn't know that there are people who are born with this problem. I certainly hope that the medical society learns more about this issue and find ways for those who have this disorder and teach them ways to "recognise" their own families and friends.
There has to be a spectral aspect to this condition. I often don’t recognise people who’ve change their hair color and attaching names to people has always escaped me.
I have this. I recognize people by their general outline - their hairdo, their clothes, the way they hold their heads. If somebody gets a different winter coat, I can't recognize them.
@@Tankervoy Well of course if they say something, that helps. But usually by then I know who they are. Their body build and their walk and what they are doing gives them away.
I am as well, but my visual centers work overtime. Faces aren't a problem. Picturing the scene where I first saw a face isn't a problem. Picturing more or less every scene over the course of several decades is more difficult, but possible. Names, though, do not stick. A person's name doesn't seem to have anything to do with who they are. There is almost never anything to attach it to. I have gotten people's names wrong after 20+ years acquaintance.
I just realized I'm a super recognition type and it has never been that weird to me. I never forget a face. I think I would be really sad if I couldn't recognize anyone in my life. I feel bad for them.
I'm the opposite, I am faceblind but not as extreme as this guy. I can eventually recognize most people I'm exposed to on a regular basis but if I don't see them for even a few weeks I lose even that familiarity. I also can't imagine things in my mind, I don't know if that's linked. I can't close my eyes and bring up an image. I can't imagine my son's face or my mother's face.
I want to send my deepest appreciation to all who made this incredible film - the message it conveys is priceless! Having worked with autistics and others with neurodiversities -- I share this link over and over again. Sooooo many people's lives have been changed by watching this - because you don't know what you don't know! As there are growing numbers of adults just now identifying as autistic or ADHD or dyslexic, this film helps them understand a little bit more about why life has been so challenging. Would you consider doing an update on this -- I do believe there is a tremendous need!
I am a lay person but I've heard about "Face Blindness" for a long while. I have often wondered if I have some form of it. I can meet someone, talk to them at length yet, by days end I wound not be able to recognize them or describe them. BUT, oddly I can recognize their voice. My husband would be blown away by this, as he can easily recall faces, but not recognize voices.
I used to be a school psychologist on a child study team. One of the problems we noticed was that adults just assume that a child was lazy or not trying. A learning disability is defined as a child of at least average intelligence who is failing. Smart children can be learning disabled. That is why IQ tests are given plus academic testing is done. That is also why a child must be failing before the CST gets involved.
Such a pity they wait until a child's esteem is on the floor before getting involved. I've see this multiple times as an advocate and it is heartbreaking. I also saw an ESL teacher say the kid was just lazy when he clearly had a learning disability and it had nothing to do with his bilingualism but his choice.
I once argued with an actor, seeing them in person, that they were not who they said they were. I was convinced of the truth when I took a moment and listened to their voice. They still looked totally foreign to me though.
I think there must be different degrees or types of face blindness. I find it easy to remember some people and not others, even after meeting them several times.
Me too! I have difficulties with women who have dark bobbed hair. I once walked a mile with a woman I assumed was simply over-friendly and eventually she said "You don't know who I am do you?" and I had to admit that no...I didn't. Turns out she was my neighbour and I had seen her regularly for a year since moving into my house....but the problem was that I had only ever seen her in her own garden or in mine or in our kitchens over coffee. When I was seeing her out of her usual context, I could not place her.
@@slydoll7877 I hope she didn't take it personally. Context definitely helps. I've always been in awe of people who can recognize a missing or wanted person from seeing their face on a milk carton, poster or TV program.
When I was as in a graduate program years ago, I was one of several woman with similar hair, coloring and body type. We did not especially look alike. A man in the program was constantly getting us confused. We thought he was rude couldn’t be bothered, but I now think he must have had this issue.
@@tinfoilhatcovidiot It sounds like she is saying they would have had a different thought process about him had they been aware of this condition. What she described is a normal human reaction to that situation.
Face blindness is really, really frustrating if you have it ... but it makes no sense to people who don't. I imagine he understood that. (I do. I hate it that I can't recognize people I've talked to for a while. I even learned art partly to try and hone my ability to see features and memorize them.)
@@tinfoilhatcovidiot We were all perfectly pleasant and friendly, and so was he. Everyone around us knew that he called us by each other’s names and remarked on the fact since it seemed very odd.
My husband suffers from this condition and is misunderstood by colleagues/family members/ friends who think that he's arrogant and snobbish. He recognizes people by their voices or hairstyles or dressing style.
Leslie, we got it. They don't recognize faces. Stop asking them to do something you know they can't do when you also know it causes them anxiety. You're borderline torturing them, and it's painful to watch.
I understand why you did this and and I mostly liked the entire video but the one thing that really got to me and I don't understand is why you had to show that lady the picture of her daughter? It's one thing for them to do it to you but the moment you did it to her, you broke her... You could see it all over her face. As soon as you were narrating and saying that that's the picture of her daughter you were about to show her, I was out loud begging "no don't do it!" Why do journalists always have to push it too far?! You don't have to live with that every single day, and it is clearly a very difficult and painful thing to deal with. Can you imagine the guilt and the shame? I could go on for a bit about this but I'd rather not. It was difficult enough to watch but to think that that lady will never forget the way she felt the minute she realized she could not recognize her own daughter was absolutely gut wrenching... I'm someone who is very sensitive to others emotions and have been through a lot of pain in this life of mine and I already know that you probably didn't mean to cause any harm but you broke that woman and you scared her for the rest of her life, good job. I didn't realize that would be so difficult to watch, my heart goes out to them... so sad to have to live life in such a lonely and heartbreaking manner...
Jake Jenson, I liked your comment because you care. I want you to remember that you really don’t know that woman will be putting herself down for the rest of her life. She may in that second realized that she didn’t have to put herself down at all. It would have been good for Stahl to say, “Don’t put yourself down for that,” but she didn’t.
I understand exactly why he did it. I have the same condition but a little less dramatic. Turning the heads upside down was the best way to show her and you how WE FEEL each time we run into anyone who knows us, but we have no idea who they are. Think about how you would feel if every time you see a neighbor, you have to apologize and ask what their name is because you don't recognize them. She is a reporter who has seen many surprising things during her career. I doubt that this scarred her for ever.
so many questions arise: do they recognize beauty and attractive faces ? how do they maintain relationships with friends and family ? do they recognize love ones ? how do they go about day to day life if everyday everyone is a stranger? ...its so terribly sad. I have higher recognition but have opted out to not remember due to sadness/shame/embarrassment.
I have this problem. People think that I'm snobbish and it can be very embarrassing. People who stop me on the street etc. know me so well and I honestly don't have any idea who they are.I make small talk fervently hoping for a clue that I can latch on to. I am very introverted for this reason.
Would it be more advantageous for you to have the people you know come up to you and tell you their name, wait a few 'beats', then start the conversation? Just an idea to pass on to those people you deal with most often.(?)
The doctor not recognizing her patient is frightening to me. The teacher is distressing as I think it would be traumatic to the children not to have recognition from the teacher every day. Since a child spends significant time in a classroom.
I was so glad when this report came on. I have a mild version. So when I watch a tv program and two people have blonde hair I have a difficult time distinguishing them. People all have 2 eyes a nose and a mouth and not much more for me. The Last of the Mohicans was difficult for me. They all looked the same. I recognize voices. But if I don't really know you and see you a month later I won't have a clue. Sadly my daughter has inherited some of this.
I have this problem only partially. If I am introduced to someone or if someone makes an impression on me, they are recognizable. Most people that I meet, I forget what they look like and people have to remind me of who they are. Now, here's the most insane part. I am a prosthetic makeup artist who is often called upon to make an actor look like a famous historical figure or other likeness.
So glad I saw this story on You Tube. I've always known that I have some issues with face recognition. It's not as bad as the guy you profiled, but if I don't interact with people a lot, chances are I would walk right past them. If I had to be a witness to a crime, chances are I'd come up blank on identifying anyone. I think there is a part of my brain that just doesn't store the info. When you flashed the photos of celebrities to the college kid, I knew about 1/2 of them. When you showed Leslie Stahl upside down faces there were only two that I recognized. I'm glad I'm not alone in this. The worst thing I can hear is "Elizabeth, it's me (so and so)". Very embarrassing. One interesting note: When my sister and I were about 9 and 10 years old, our mother died. At one point the next day, my younger sister looked at me and said, "Elizabeth, I don't remember what she looked like." I responded, "I don't either." To this day I can only remember photos of her, but none in real life memory.
You might be onto something with the idea it’s a storage issue, like they aren’t downloading the info to the hard drive. It stays is short term memory, then it’s gone.
@@scottchicago95 Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper has it. He was an extremely successful businessman, was mayor of Denver for eight years, governor of Colorado for eight years, and now senator. He said recognizing faces just wasn't in his toolbox.
At a writers conference I sat next to a young woman who was writing a memoir about having prosopagnosia. At first I was bothered that she didn't recognize me during breaks. I didn't quite believe it was real, but after several days of reintroducing myself every time we met, I understood a little better and didn't feel snubbed.
I was on Quora when I saw the word 'Prosopagnosia', so I had to You-Tube it, to learn more about it, and what'll know, one of my favorite shows 60 minutes has a story about it- I had never heard of this before now, and I find it fascinating and yet I feel compassion for those suffering from Face Blindness- As far as the Super Recognizers, that's just as uniquely interesting.
It's a very common disorder frequently found in people who owe you money. Most people who borrowed money from me started to suffer from Prosopagnosia. This is often accompanied by Amnesia. I have decided not to lend anymore until they find a cure for this disorder.
My husband has this because of brain injury. It's so bad, he sat in a hospital room at the side of his 80yo father and chatting for more than 15 minutes when the man in the bed said, "...I think you're looking for someone else..."😢
"Socially"(?) Autistic, or shy people will possibly make no or limited eye contact. Many people describe and have experienced temporary "blindness" or "blacking out" even while fully conscious, while performing various tasks, for example a gymnast executing a tumbling routine. When we daydream, we don't see what we are actually looking at. Failure to make eye contact is a defense mechanism for some, while serving as a means of intimidation for others. Do we trust someone because they are smiling? I feel many with this issue are simply running on fight or flight. Interesting stuff.
OMG. I can't believe this. It explains so much! I've been aware of 'deducing' identities from associating clues like extra-large ears for as long as I've been conscious. I have a doctorate in art history; I've used the same process with objects but have to wonder whether the question of non-recognition isn't not seeing what's in front of me, but rather the ability to put the individual pieces together as a whole. Perhaps a sort of autism? One is static and one is alive (a face) so they're not comparable, still... Along with other spectra that we've 'recognized' (introduced?) over the past fifty years, perhaps we should be looking at the chemicals and plastics humans started to ingest after WWII and their effects on our brains.
Prosopagnosia is a neurological condition that is not knwn by the population. I heard about it during my psychology degree and I hope more education and awareness is given to it
I've been made fun of by my family and friends because I can pick people out of crowds at concerts or walking down the street. I've picked people out that I've never met and really no reason I should recognize them. I got all but 3 of the pictures. Can't imagine how tuff this would be.
A teacher in my child's school left due to rumored tumor brain surgery. She was beloved and so sweet with all the children and warm. When she came back a year later she had no emotion, was cold, and didn't say hello to any child. Even when they came up and introduced themselves she responded like a cyborg. The kids were all 2/3 graders who loved her and were all shooken up for life. The school and the teacher refused to say what happened and what was happening. It was traumatic for all the children and I am sure very hard to her but probably been better if she had been upfront.
I paused the video at 2:11 and continued it 20 minutes later. At 2:18 I firstly thought that the talking man was Lesley, before the narrator explained a few seconds later that is was a professor so a different person. ×D
I can't recognize my doctor! I could recognize the one I had before, but this one surprises me every time I see her. I can recognize some faces, but others seem very generic. It helps if people have some type of facial distinction or "flaw" (mole, crooked nose, long chin) for me to recognize them. Yet, I can remember all sorts of random factoids about a person, even many years later. I'm also good at identifying plants at a glance or time periods for antiques, for example. It's not that I'm incapable of identification or I have a bad memory. It's nice to know other people also struggle with matching identities to faces.
Knew someone many years ago with this condition. She said she'd primarily recognize people by the way they walk. Imagine, you can't recognize facial patterns, but their gait?
on some level, there's some element of "cultural" face blindness when it comes to racial differences. people within a racial group can tell the differences more adeptly than people outside of a racial group. i wonder if that has any relation to this.
@Joe Blow I was mugged by a man who stole my handbag. Police came & I gave a statement. He asked for a description so I told him about his hair (short black), clothing and skin colour (black). Asked to describe his facial features, I couldn't. I was struggling. Then the officers told me that was nothing new. "White people struggle to describe details of black faces" were his exact words.
@@elizabethgrogan8553 I'm so sorry you were mugged but I appreciate you sharing your experience with us. I can imagine that when you're in a stressful situation like that, trying to remember details about the people involved might be hard because you were scared, and it was a stranger to you. I'm not sure if I would be able to give any description beyond hair color, skin color, height, weight, gender, and maybe age. I doubt I'd be able to say what color eyes they had or what their nose or mouth looked like. There's always been the idea that to white people, "all black people look alike", which isn't the case for me but it's interesting to hear that the officer you spoke with said a lot of white people have a hard time describing details about black people's faces. I wonder if that's true for the majority or just happened to be true for the people that officer has delt with. I wonder if it would be different in different situations...like if someone was describing a black person they met socially vs a black person who mugged them. It would be interesting to see if it was the case across the board, or just for stressful situations. I also wonder if the same happens with other races... Would a black person have a hard time describing details about a white person's face, or an Asian person's face, and if stress effected their ability. I'm sure someone out there has studied questions like that, I just don't know who or how to find their results. 🤔 Maybe Google could help me out with that question or at least point me in the right direction. I've been a nurse for over 20 years and I'm fascinated by the human body and brain, but there's still so much about our brain, and how it functions, that continues to remain a mystery. I'm sure all questions will be answered in time, but it'll be many lifetimes from now, so I need to accept that I'll never know. 😉 Thanks again for sharing, and although I'm glad you didn't suffer physical harm during the mugging, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that you suffered emotional harm as a result. Did they ever find the person who mugged you? Did you get your stuff back?
Hmm. Apparently I am a super recognizer. I also remember everybody, and I had no problems recognizing any of the pictures of younger famous people they showed. I didn´t know this was not normal until now.
Although we can't fully appreciate what the world looks like through another person's eyes, little exercises like the one showing well-known people's faces upsidedown, can give us a little taste of what they experience all the time, and a better understanding of how a condition like "face blindness" impacts their lives. I was truly shocked when I couldn't recognize those people's faces when they were upsidedown, because I knew exactly who they were right side up. (Well, except for her daughter. 😉) I'm fascinated by these kinds of conditions. We know a whole lot about the human brain, but there's still an awful lot that remains a mystery...
Whoa. I'm pretty sure my wife is somewhere on this spectrum. I've always joked "if you ever have to pick someone out of a police lineup, an innocent man is going to jail".
I am the exact opposite. I have an ironclad and vivid photographic memory of faces. The reason is that I hear sounds or words or phrases when I see a face. If I travel out of town I don't get the pings when I'm walking around in public. It's kinda wierd being out of town.
My nephew has epilepsy and when he was 18 he had major brain surgery to try to remove the lesions causing it. They actually removed the wrong area and that lesion was left there but what they did do is remove his facial recognition part of his brain. He hasn't been able to recognize faces since then 13 years ago.
I have the opposite issue - if you can call it an issue. In the same episode, Lesley Stahl also discussed super recognizers. I tend to remember faces -- and visual data in general. I remember recognizing someone in an airport that I had seen from a subway billboard some 15 years earlier. I think we take for granted many of our faculties which can probably be attributed to perhaps a specific sliver of brain tissue. This reminds me that some people learning that OTHER people can actually form pictures in their minds -- literally NOT figuratively. I'll concede I did NOT recognize Mike Wallace as a 6 year old and I thought Prince Charles might have been Ted Koppel.....LMAO. George Clooney to me was obvious!! It's clear this face blindness can be socially a problem not to mention otherwise.
I think I would tell my closest friends and family members to wear certain thing for one person certain thing for another person when they were talking to me. Piece of jewelry, a scarf, a hat Etc.
Would it be ethical for our government or educational universities to conduct a long term study on the effects of the plasticity of memory with the human brain without the full consent of the subjects being studied, as if their lives, their only lives would be lost for them, but a scientific gain for the scientist. Even still, the subjects only get one life.
i have it to some degree. i can recognize people if i see them but i cant describe people, not even my mother or myself. just extremely obvious traits like big moles or sth like that. i rely on hair or clothing style or how they walk as described. i often recognize people at first (for example meeting a classmate at the grocery store) and then question if its really them. drawing faces really helps me remembering faces of loved ones because then i concentrate on their faces for hours
Wow, I don't forget faces but dammit I'm so terrible with people's NAMES. Like I can't even remember a boss's name from an old job yet I can describe exactly what she looked like, her personality, the way she dressed, even her husband's features.. yet the names just blank on me after so long. However I don't seem to forget memories, people or conversations. It's so annoying so I can't imagine how these folks must feel not remembering faces. Ugh especially when it comes to your own loved ones.
Wow. Sorry to hear you had a stroke.. but how very interesting. How did you have memories of people/family members when you can't remember what they looked like? Did anything else change after your stroke?
I find it very hard to remember a face...... i have to really concentrate when i meet somene and try to commit to memory i t was very har d in business Its not really bad like these poor people I used to cover myself with its lovely to see you again Only once some much older man replied WE have never met..............The joy is ten minutes later (or less) I would not know him agian!!.
i have this problem too. I may not be able to recognize my wife or daughters if they dressed up differently, changed their hair style and walk passed me in a mall. There are times when i have mistook other women for my wife and daughter. To make things worse i have 2 sister who are twins. Cool right?
I heard him say he thought had a slight case of this. He said he could identify people who are close to him, but not others, even if he saw them every day.
You sure wouldn't want to use any of these people as an eyewitness to a crime against themselves. I have something like this...I can watch the same great movie again and again because I don't recognize any of the characters anymore, but at least a month has to pass. I have no problem with friends and family, but, if I haven't seen a friend for over a year, I won't recognize them. The movie part is GREAT though.
I have some form of this. I can recognize a celebrity in a movie or on tv but probably not in an airplane or restaurant. I am a nurse and if I see a coworker in a situation where she/he is not wearing scrubs, I probably would walk right past them.
As an office worker with face blindness who has worked from home since the start of the pandemic, I’ve come to love collaborative tools like MS Teams or Zoom because when a meeting participant speaks up, their name appears or lights up on my screen, which makes it easier to track who said/asked what, who owns which action items, etc.
A lot of us would struggle with returning to an office environment-especially one with a “hotel setup” (no assigned desks with name plates, etc.), which is the direction a lot of companies are heading.
I’ve gotten so used to confidently navigating meetings while working remotely that I barely recall how much anxiety in-person meetings used to cause.
Thank goodness for people with very unique/distinct voices.
Though the causes may differ, the impacts of poor facial recognition are also felt by many with visual disabilities. It’s often cited by those in the Nystagmus communities. It’s definitely impacted social and professional aspects of my life.
Uu
Don't even get me STARTED.. .
I have an incredible memory and am a super recognizer, people find it odd ? I find it a good thing.....
When my brother was a teenager, he saw a stranger at our small town cafe. About 25 years later, he saw the same man in a bar in Los Angeles. At first the guy didn't believe my brother, but he was also able to describe his car and the guy remembered he used to drive through our town on his job.
Your brother is probably one of those people who remember every day of his life in detail.
@@V.E.R.O. Unfortunately, my brother died five years ago, and I doubt he remembered every single day in detail, but he sure remembered more than anyone else I've ever known. Whenever a song played on the radio, he could remember exactly where he was the first time he heard it. He could remember the names and details of every person in our town and was always puzzled that I couldn't do that. I miss that boy. Thanks for your input.
@@kerrynight3271 I'm sorry for your loss.
@@kerrynight3271 ❤💔😢
This segment was very interesting to me. I knew that there were some people who, after a traumatic experience or accident, develop this issue, but I didn't know that there are people who are born with this problem. I certainly hope that the medical society learns more about this issue and find ways for those who have this disorder and teach them ways to "recognise" their own families and friends.
1
We might forget about the recognizing the name or the status of their life but when I see your face I recognize the face
There has to be a spectral aspect to this condition. I often don’t recognise people who’ve change their hair color and attaching names to people has always escaped me.
I have this. I recognize people by their general outline - their hairdo, their clothes, the way they hold their heads. If somebody gets a different winter coat, I can't recognize them.
Do you recognize people by the sound of their voice , or does it have to be a visual feature?
@@Tankervoy Well of course if they say something, that helps. But usually by then I know who they are. Their body build and their walk and what they are doing gives them away.
@@christinepark1398 Okay thanks!
I had this for 2 years omg it was bizarre.
When I walked dog 🐩 i would only remember them by their dog .
dr.oliver saks, rip. remarkable human being!
This would be terrible for adults, but can you imagine a child who has this, who is born with this, how terrible
This is pretty common with those on the spectrum as well.
I am as well, but my visual centers work overtime. Faces aren't a problem. Picturing the scene where I first saw a face isn't a problem. Picturing more or less every scene over the course of several decades is more difficult, but possible.
Names, though, do not stick. A person's name doesn't seem to have anything to do with who they are. There is almost never anything to attach it to. I have gotten people's names wrong after 20+ years acquaintance.
I just realized I'm a super recognition type and it has never been that weird to me. I never forget a face. I think I would be really sad if I couldn't recognize anyone in my life. I feel bad for them.
I'm the opposite, I am faceblind but not as extreme as this guy. I can eventually recognize most people I'm exposed to on a regular basis but if I don't see them for even a few weeks I lose even that familiarity. I also can't imagine things in my mind, I don't know if that's linked. I can't close my eyes and bring up an image. I can't imagine my son's face or my mother's face.
@@jannettb7930 I'm so 😞 sorry
@@jannettb7930 That inability to visualize is another condition I saw a UA-cam on, but I can’t remember the name.
Lol. There are a lot of faces I wish I could forget
@@carolynworthington8996 this is years old but in case anyone is wondering it's called aphantasia.
I want to send my deepest appreciation to all who made this incredible film - the message it conveys is priceless! Having worked with autistics and others with neurodiversities -- I share this link over and over again. Sooooo many people's lives have been changed by watching this - because you don't know what you don't know! As there are growing numbers of adults just now identifying as autistic or ADHD or dyslexic, this film helps them understand a little bit more about why life has been so challenging. Would you consider doing an update on this -- I do believe there is a tremendous need!
I am a lay person but I've heard about "Face Blindness" for a long while. I have often wondered if I have some form of it. I can meet someone, talk to them at length yet, by days end I wound not be able to recognize them or describe them. BUT, oddly I can recognize their voice. My husband would be blown away by this, as he can easily recall faces, but not recognize voices.
Sounds, to me, like 'teamwork'. If one has difficulty remembering someone, the other can, due to their particular 'talent'.
Seeing this clip in 2012 is how I found out about my own face-blindness. I thought I was crazy. Thank you 60 Minutes.
I used to be a school psychologist on a child study team. One of the problems we noticed was that adults just assume that a child was lazy or not trying. A learning disability is defined as a child of at least average intelligence who is failing. Smart children can be learning disabled. That is why IQ tests are given plus academic testing is done. That is also why a child must be failing before the CST gets involved.
Such a pity they wait until a child's esteem is on the floor before getting involved. I've see this multiple times as an advocate and it is heartbreaking. I also saw an ESL teacher say the kid was just lazy when he clearly had a learning disability and it had nothing to do with his bilingualism but his choice.
I once argued with an actor, seeing them in person, that they were not who they said they were. I was convinced of the truth when I took a moment and listened to their voice. They still looked totally foreign to me though.
I think there must be different degrees or types of face blindness. I find it easy to remember some people and not others, even after meeting them several times.
Me too! I have difficulties with women who have dark bobbed hair. I once walked a mile with a woman I assumed was simply over-friendly and eventually she said "You don't know who I am do you?" and I had to admit that no...I didn't. Turns out she was my neighbour and I had seen her regularly for a year since moving into my house....but the problem was that I had only ever seen her in her own garden or in mine or in our kitchens over coffee. When I was seeing her out of her usual context, I could not place her.
@@slydoll7877 I hope she didn't take it personally. Context definitely helps. I've always been in awe of people who can recognize a missing or wanted person from seeing their face on a milk carton, poster or TV program.
@@flybefree Luckily it was about the time I was realising that I had face blindness so I came right out and told her.
@@slydoll7877 awesome. I have the same. I tell people, right off the bat
@@da1stamericus Some people look at you like you're nuts don't they? Because they've never heard of it. Others are interested.
When I was as in a graduate program years ago, I was one of several woman with similar hair, coloring and body type. We did not especially look alike. A man in the program was constantly getting us confused. We thought he was rude couldn’t be bothered, but I now think he must have had this issue.
That says more about you people than him..
Maybe you were all snotty though and he didn't have the time to waste learning anything about you.
@@tinfoilhatcovidiot It sounds like she is saying they would have had a different thought process about him had they been aware of this condition. What she described is a normal human reaction to that situation.
Face blindness is really, really frustrating if you have it ... but it makes no sense to people who don't. I imagine he understood that. (I do. I hate it that I can't recognize people I've talked to for a while. I even learned art partly to try and hone my ability to see features and memorize them.)
@@tinfoilhatcovidiot We were all perfectly pleasant and friendly, and so was he. Everyone around us knew that he called us by each other’s names and remarked on the fact since it seemed very odd.
Upside-down was like omg
Totally! Makes you question reality 🤔
I knew one upside-down face was Sylvester Stallon.
A coworker has told me I have this as I get confused by clients who are obviously different from each other.
My husband suffers from this condition and is misunderstood by colleagues/family members/ friends who think that he's arrogant and snobbish. He recognizes people by their voices or hairstyles or dressing style.
Leslie, we got it. They don't recognize faces. Stop asking them to do something you know they can't do when you also know it causes them anxiety. You're borderline torturing them, and it's painful to watch.
I understand why you did this and and I mostly liked the entire video but the one thing that really got to me and I don't understand is why you had to show that lady the picture of her daughter? It's one thing for them to do it to you but the moment you did it to her, you broke her... You could see it all over her face. As soon as you were narrating and saying that that's the picture of her daughter you were about to show her, I was out loud begging "no don't do it!" Why do journalists always have to push it too far?! You don't have to live with that every single day, and it is clearly a very difficult and painful thing to deal with. Can you imagine the guilt and the shame? I could go on for a bit about this but I'd rather not. It was difficult enough to watch but to think that that lady will never forget the way she felt the minute she realized she could not recognize her own daughter was absolutely gut wrenching... I'm someone who is very sensitive to others emotions and have been through a lot of pain in this life of mine and I already know that you probably didn't mean to cause any harm but you broke that woman and you scared her for the rest of her life, good job. I didn't realize that would be so difficult to watch, my heart goes out to them... so sad to have to live life in such a lonely and heartbreaking manner...
Jake Jenson, I liked your comment because you care. I want you to remember that you really don’t know that woman will be putting herself down for the rest of her life. She may in that second realized that she didn’t have to put herself down at all. It would have been good for Stahl to say, “Don’t put yourself down for that,” but she didn’t.
I understand exactly why he did it. I have the same condition but a little less dramatic. Turning the heads upside down was the best way to show her and you how WE FEEL each time we run into anyone who knows us, but we have no idea who they are. Think about how you would feel if every time you see a neighbor, you have to apologize and ask what their name is because you don't recognize them. She is a reporter who has seen many surprising things during her career. I doubt that this scarred her for ever.
Sensation sells. We all have some 'morbid curiosity'.
so many questions arise: do they recognize beauty and attractive faces ? how do they maintain relationships with friends and family ? do they recognize love ones ? how do they go about day to day life if everyday everyone is a stranger? ...its so terribly sad. I have higher recognition but have opted out to not remember due to sadness/shame/embarrassment.
I have this problem. People think that I'm snobbish and it can be very embarrassing. People who stop me on the street etc. know me so well and I honestly don't have any idea who they are.I make small talk fervently hoping for a clue that I can latch on to. I am very introverted for this reason.
Would it be more advantageous for you to have the people you know come up to you and tell you their name, wait a few 'beats', then start the conversation? Just an idea to pass on to those people you deal with most often.(?)
The doctor not recognizing her patient is frightening to me. The teacher is distressing as I think it would be traumatic to the children not to have recognition from the teacher every day. Since a child spends significant time in a classroom.
as long as my heart surgeon can recognise my heart and mcdonalds recognises a big mac i am ok with that...............
I was so glad when this report came on. I have a mild version. So when I watch a tv program and two people have blonde hair I have a difficult time distinguishing them. People all have 2 eyes a nose and a mouth and not much more for me. The Last of the Mohicans was difficult for me. They all looked the same. I recognize voices. But if I don't really know you and see you a month later I won't have a clue. Sadly my daughter has inherited some of this.
I have this problem only partially. If I am introduced to someone or if someone makes an impression on me, they are recognizable. Most people that I meet, I forget what they look like and people have to remind me of who they are. Now, here's the most insane part. I am a prosthetic makeup artist who is often called upon to make an actor look like a famous historical figure or other likeness.
So glad I saw this story on You Tube. I've always known that I have some issues with face recognition. It's not as bad as the guy you profiled, but if I don't interact with people a lot, chances are I would walk right past them. If I had to be a witness to a crime, chances are I'd come up blank on identifying anyone. I think there is a part of my brain that just doesn't store the info. When you flashed the photos of celebrities to the college kid, I knew about 1/2 of them. When you showed Leslie Stahl upside down faces there were only two that I recognized. I'm glad I'm not alone in this. The worst thing I can hear is "Elizabeth, it's me (so and so)". Very embarrassing. One interesting note: When my sister and I were about 9 and 10 years old, our mother died. At one point the next day, my younger sister looked at me and said, "Elizabeth, I don't remember what she looked like." I responded, "I don't either." To this day I can only remember photos of her, but none in real life memory.
You might be onto something with the idea it’s a storage issue, like they aren’t downloading the info to the hard drive. It stays is short term memory, then it’s gone.
Some people can’t visualize, a different thing. Maybe you have some of that doing on.
The loneliest of conditions...
Just constantly talk, to strangers..lol..same thing a politician does..
@@scottchicago95 Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper has it. He was an extremely successful businessman, was mayor of Denver for eight years, governor of Colorado for eight years, and now senator. He said recognizing faces just wasn't in his toolbox.
I'm bad with names but I recognize faces
At a writers conference I sat next to a young woman who was writing a memoir about having prosopagnosia. At first I was bothered that she didn't recognize me during breaks. I didn't quite believe it was real, but after several days of reintroducing myself every time we met, I understood a little better and didn't feel snubbed.
I was on Quora when I saw the word 'Prosopagnosia', so I had to You-Tube it, to learn more about it, and what'll know, one of my favorite shows 60 minutes has a story about it- I had never heard of this before now, and I find it fascinating and yet I feel compassion for those suffering from Face Blindness- As far as the Super Recognizers, that's just as uniquely interesting.
INSTEAD OF HIDING IT, THEY SHOULD JUST BE HONEST SO PPL COULD UNDERSTAND & THUS IT WOULD MAKE IT EASIER FOR EVERY1
It's a very common disorder frequently found in people who owe you money. Most people who borrowed money from me started to suffer from Prosopagnosia. This is often accompanied by Amnesia. I have decided not to lend anymore until they find a cure for this disorder.
My husband has this because of brain injury. It's so bad, he sat in a hospital room at the side of his 80yo father and chatting for more than 15 minutes when the man in the bed said, "...I think you're looking for someone else..."😢
I learned about this in college in a "perception class" there are few weird conditions. My favorite is Akinetopsia, blindness to motion.
"Socially"(?) Autistic, or shy people will possibly make no or limited eye contact. Many people describe and have experienced temporary "blindness" or "blacking out" even while fully conscious, while performing various tasks, for example a gymnast executing a tumbling routine. When we daydream, we don't see what we are actually looking at. Failure to make eye contact is a defense mechanism for some, while serving as a means of intimidation for others. Do we trust someone because they are smiling? I feel many with this issue are simply running on fight or flight. Interesting stuff.
Interesting. I'd never heard of this condition.
My Mother’s friend has this from childhood due to having a bit of her brain nicked during an operation.
That's one thing about me if someone I know I don't forget people's faces you never forget a face when actually someone knows you
What if co-workers or classmates wore name tags?
name blindness?
I’m pretty bad, and a bartender. My new line is: “Im bad with faces, I only remember the ugly ones.”
I was a bartender for years, just remember their usual, go to beverage!
Perfect answer, Jose. How can anyone get offended by that if that's what you say because of a face recognition problem you have ?
Good one!
OMG. I can't believe this. It explains so much! I've been aware of 'deducing' identities from associating clues like extra-large ears for as long as I've been conscious. I have a doctorate in art history; I've used the same process with objects but have to wonder whether the question of non-recognition isn't not seeing what's in front of me, but rather the ability to put the individual pieces together as a whole. Perhaps a sort of autism? One is static and one is alive (a face) so they're not comparable, still... Along with other spectra that we've 'recognized' (introduced?) over the past fifty years, perhaps we should be looking at the chemicals and plastics humans started to ingest after WWII and their effects on our brains.
I definitely don't have this condition since i could recognize the faces immediately even when upside down.
Yeah, me too. I don't know how she didn't.
And me
You recognized Morley Safer? The upside down picture looked inhuman to me.
I didn’t get the upside-down ones but I do recognize faces normally. Gave me a taste of what face blindness might be like.
This is fascinating.
Prosopagnosia is a neurological condition that is not knwn by the population. I heard about it during my psychology degree and I hope more education and awareness is given to it
I've been made fun of by my family and friends because I can pick people out of crowds at concerts or walking down the street. I've picked people out that I've never met and really no reason I should recognize them. I got all but 3 of the pictures.
Can't imagine how tuff this would be.
A teacher in my child's school left due to rumored tumor brain surgery. She was beloved and so sweet with all the children and warm. When she came back a year later she had no emotion, was cold, and didn't say hello to any child. Even when they came up and introduced themselves she responded like a cyborg. The kids were all 2/3 graders who loved her and were all shooken up for life. The school and the teacher refused to say what happened and what was happening. It was traumatic for all the children and I am sure very hard to her but probably been better if she had been upfront.
Most definitely. That is so, so sad.
Super interesting!
I'm the opposite. I recognize faces but I can't remember names.
Elaine is totally intrigued by this guy!
This happens to me sometimes. I also see people that I think I know all the time that I don't know.
That's kinda like 50 first dates
I love this documentary. Never heard of face blindness before I watched this video. Intriguing stuff. 👍🤔🙏
Speaking of faces, Leslie Stahl is absolutely gorgeous. I don’t know her age but she’s definitely not shall I say young. Wow. Just wow.
I paused the video at 2:11 and continued it 20 minutes later. At 2:18 I firstly thought that the talking man was Lesley, before the narrator explained a few seconds later that is was a professor so a different person. ×D
I can't recognize my doctor! I could recognize the one I had before, but this one surprises me every time I see her. I can recognize some faces, but others seem very generic. It helps if people have some type of facial distinction or "flaw" (mole, crooked nose, long chin) for me to recognize them. Yet, I can remember all sorts of random factoids about a person, even many years later. I'm also good at identifying plants at a glance or time periods for antiques, for example. It's not that I'm incapable of identification or I have a bad memory. It's nice to know other people also struggle with matching identities to faces.
Knew someone many years ago with this condition. She said she'd primarily recognize people by the way they walk. Imagine, you can't recognize facial patterns, but their gait?
on some level, there's some element of "cultural" face blindness when it comes to racial differences. people within a racial group can tell the differences more adeptly than people outside of a racial group. i wonder if that has any relation to this.
@Joe Blow I was mugged by a man who stole my handbag. Police came & I gave a statement. He asked for a description so I told him about his hair (short black), clothing and skin colour (black). Asked to describe his facial features, I couldn't. I was struggling. Then the officers told me that was nothing new. "White people struggle to describe details of black faces" were his exact words.
@Joe Blow A race is an event wherein one or more people compete against one another to see who is the fastest.
@@elizabethgrogan8553 I'm so sorry you were mugged but I appreciate you sharing your experience with us. I can imagine that when you're in a stressful situation like that, trying to remember details about the people involved might be hard because you were scared, and it was a stranger to you. I'm not sure if I would be able to give any description beyond hair color, skin color, height, weight, gender, and maybe age. I doubt I'd be able to say what color eyes they had or what their nose or mouth looked like.
There's always been the idea that to white people, "all black people look alike", which isn't the case for me but it's interesting to hear that the officer you spoke with said a lot of white people have a hard time describing details about black people's faces. I wonder if that's true for the majority or just happened to be true for the people that officer has delt with. I wonder if it would be different in different situations...like if someone was describing a black person they met socially vs a black person who mugged them. It would be interesting to see if it was the case across the board, or just for stressful situations. I also wonder if the same happens with other races... Would a black person have a hard time describing details about a white person's face, or an Asian person's face, and if stress effected their ability. I'm sure someone out there has studied questions like that, I just don't know who or how to find their results. 🤔 Maybe Google could help me out with that question or at least point me in the right direction.
I've been a nurse for over 20 years and I'm fascinated by the human body and brain, but there's still so much about our brain, and how it functions, that continues to remain a mystery. I'm sure all questions will be answered in time, but it'll be many lifetimes from now, so I need to accept that I'll never know. 😉
Thanks again for sharing, and although I'm glad you didn't suffer physical harm during the mugging, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that you suffered emotional harm as a result.
Did they ever find the person who mugged you? Did you get your stuff back?
@Joe Blow Do you actually look like Dave Chappelle, or is it just that all tall thin bald black men look like Dave Chappelle to that white guy?
Hmm. Apparently I am a super recognizer. I also remember everybody, and I had no problems recognizing any of the pictures of younger famous people they showed. I didn´t know this was not normal until now.
Shout to Jen Jarrett one of my friends.
I have a mild case & my adult students feel hurt when I cant recall their faces.
Although we can't fully appreciate what the world looks like through another person's eyes, little exercises like the one showing well-known people's faces upsidedown, can give us a little taste of what they experience all the time, and a better understanding of how a condition like "face blindness" impacts their lives.
I was truly shocked when I couldn't recognize those people's faces when they were upsidedown, because I knew exactly who they were right side up. (Well, except for her daughter. 😉)
I'm fascinated by these kinds of conditions. We know a whole lot about the human brain, but there's still an awful lot that remains a mystery...
Anyone else think that when her daughter was flipped upside down, it was Jim Carey?
Than you, that was extent!
Now how did this turn into a war
Whoa. I'm pretty sure my wife is somewhere on this spectrum. I've always joked "if you ever have to pick someone out of a police lineup, an innocent man is going to jail".
I am the exact opposite. I have an ironclad and vivid photographic memory of faces. The reason is that I hear sounds or words or phrases when I see a face. If I travel out of town I don't get the pings when I'm walking around in public. It's kinda wierd being out of town.
Leslie Stahl is such a beautiful woman. I love looking at her.
I think she is so pretty too!!
My nephew has epilepsy and when he was 18 he had major brain surgery to try to remove the lesions causing it. They actually removed the wrong area and that lesion was left there but what they did do is remove his facial recognition part of his brain. He hasn't been able to recognize faces since then 13 years ago.
It is so sad.
I have the opposite issue - if you can call it an issue. In the same episode, Lesley Stahl also discussed super recognizers. I tend to remember faces -- and visual data in general. I remember recognizing someone in an airport that I had seen from a subway billboard some 15 years earlier. I think we take for granted many of our faculties which can probably be attributed to perhaps a specific sliver of brain tissue. This reminds me that some people learning that OTHER people can actually form pictures in their minds -- literally NOT figuratively. I'll concede I did NOT recognize Mike Wallace as a 6 year old and I thought Prince Charles might have been Ted Koppel.....LMAO. George Clooney to me was obvious!! It's clear this face blindness can be socially a problem not to mention otherwise.
Not all of us follow celebrities. I only knew John Travolta.
I recognized him, but couldn't think of his name. Getting old.
I think I would tell my closest friends and family members to wear certain thing for one person certain thing for another person when they were talking to me. Piece of jewelry, a scarf, a hat Etc.
I am diagnosed with Aspergers, and suspect that I have mirror neuron deficits.
I don't recognize faces either but I but I had Lee ever forget a voice
What about the shades of grey in between, such as recognizing faces of certain ethnicities?
Apparently we’re all better at recognizing people in our own ethnic group. If we don’t have face blindness at least.
so HOW was the elder lady on the right able to be a teacher if she does not recognize her students???
an instant excuse to get off a jury duty thingy...
Would it be ethical for our government or educational universities to conduct a long term study on the effects of the plasticity of memory with the human brain without the full consent of the subjects being studied, as if their lives, their only lives would be lost for them, but a scientific gain for the scientist. Even still, the subjects only get one life.
wait what about paying attention to their voice??
I have prosopragnosia. Had it since I was right years old.
I wish I had face blindness when I see an image of Trump.
and pelosi too
LOL - hair blindness.
i have it to some degree. i can recognize people if i see them but i cant describe people, not even my mother or myself. just extremely obvious traits like big moles or sth like that. i rely on hair or clothing style or how they walk as described. i often recognize people at first (for example meeting a classmate at the grocery store) and then question if its really them. drawing faces really helps me remembering faces of loved ones because then i concentrate on their faces for hours
Wow, I don't forget faces but dammit I'm so terrible with people's NAMES. Like I can't even remember a boss's name from an old job yet I can describe exactly what she looked like, her personality, the way she dressed, even her husband's features.. yet the names just blank on me after so long. However I don't seem to forget memories, people or conversations. It's so annoying so I can't imagine how these folks must feel not remembering faces. Ugh especially when it comes to your own loved ones.
I have severe face blindness I don't even like to leave my house people dont understand
I had it growing up till I had a stroke. Weird. I never knew what I had till now.
Wow. Sorry to hear you had a stroke.. but how very interesting.
How did you have memories of people/family members when you can't remember what they looked like?
Did anything else change after your stroke?
@@tinfoilhatcovidiot I couldnt recognize family either. Not sure why the stokes fixed that.
I find it very hard to remember a face...... i have to really concentrate when i meet somene and try to commit to memory i t was very har d in business Its not really bad like these poor people I used to cover myself with its lovely to see you again Only once some much older man replied WE have never met..............The joy is ten minutes later (or less) I would not know him agian!!.
When people get haircuts im at a loss 😂 I dont even recognize my own father.
How about recognition by voice?
Disclaimer: they are NOT doppelgängers
i have provoplacia but all i could think about watching this is "cool jim carrey"
i have this problem too. I may not be able to recognize my wife or daughters if they dressed up differently, changed their hair style and walk passed me in a mall. There are times when i have mistook other women for my wife and daughter. To make things worse i have 2 sister who are twins. Cool right?
Just saw a video of a very young lady who is experiencing this post ,, 💉
I recognize people's faces not interested in names but I know when I see your face who you are
I read somewhere that Brad Pitt has this condition.
I heard him say he thought had a slight case of this. He said he could identify people who are close to him, but not others, even if he saw them every day.
You sure wouldn't want to use any of these people as an eyewitness to a crime against themselves.
I have something like this...I can watch the same great movie again and again because I don't recognize any of the characters anymore, but at least a month has to pass.
I have no problem with friends and family, but, if I haven't seen a friend for over a year, I won't recognize them.
The movie part is GREAT though.
I have some form of this. I can recognize a celebrity in a movie or on tv but probably not in an airplane or restaurant. I am a nurse and if I see a coworker in a situation where she/he is not wearing scrubs, I probably would walk right past them.
@@jeanninefinlay3362
How odd...I'm a Nurse as well!
Why does everybody commenting want in on this one? You don't have face blindness, you're just thoughtless and rude.